De Lille hails glorious poll victory

WELCOME BACK: Re-elected mayor of Cape Town Patricia de Lille is hugged by a colleague at the first new council meeting yesterdayWELCOME BACK: Re-elected mayor of Cape Town Patricia de Lille is hugged by a colleague at the first new council meeting yesterday. Picture: ESA ALEXANDER

The arrogance of power had been brought low by the will of the people in the local government election, Patricia de Lille said yesterday after being officially re-elected as mayor of the City of Cape Town.

“This election has defined the beginning of a new era of our country’s history‚ the time when we start to mature as a democracy‚ ” De Lille said, describing the result as being glorious.

Her election was met by cheers and singing from the benches occupied by the DA. Councillor Dirk Smit, of the DA, also retained his position as speaker after beating ANC councillor Patrick Mngxunyeni by 157 to 57 votes.

De Lille said at the first meeting of the new council: “We will continue to spend 67% of our budget on the poor.

“We will continue to redress the imbalances of the past and to replace concrete roads‚ retrofit ceilings in government housing‚ and give title deeds and property ownership to people‚” she said.

“We will continue to provide sanitation and basic services to informal settlements.

“We will continue to provide the best level of services in the country to all residents.”